'Cold feet' says Mr Navman

Peter Maire

The American owners selling troubled navigation technology company Navman lost their nerve about putting money into the business, founder Peter Maire said yesterday.

US marine and leisure products giant Brunswick said this month that up to 5 per cent of Navman's 600 workers could be made redundant in cost-cutting at its New Technologies division, which was put up for sale this year.

A clash of cultures between New Zealand staff and Brunswick, which bought the company for $108 million in 2004, was one reason more than 100 workers had walked away since April, Maire said.

"They're leaving faster than they can make them redundant," he said.

Although he no longer owns the firm, Maire keeps an eye on it.

"This is one of my children, if you like, so I've got a vested interest in what is happening to it, and of course all those staff are largely people I employed, and I have a lot of very close friends there."

Initially, Brunswick had stuck with the original strategy and sales grew to about $450 million, Maire said.

"Then they got cold feet, stopped spending and unfortunately in technology when you flinch you get shot in the shoulder.

"I guess that's a real lesson to me ... don't believe in big corporate America."

Brunswick had built a management team in Chicago who were "non-productive"and "who really didn't understand the game".

Does Maire regret selling the firm he founded in 1986 as Talon Technology in his Auckland garage?

"Yes and no. You can only do so many 100-hour weeks."

When he sold Navman, it was at a point where it needed large sums of money to break into the world markets.

As far as Maire knew, the only bidders for New Technologies, of which Navman makes up about 95 per cent of revenue, were private equity firms.

There was a high level of confidence that a deal could be done in the next couple of months, he said.

He would not buy Navman back, but he was certain it could be put back on track.

"All they need to do is get an owner who will love it, respect it and believe in it."